Sunday, April 22, 2012

Good weekend here. Saturday morning, Matt took Laura to a swim meet and I went to work a volunteer shift at the spring carnival at Hank's school. Look, velcro wall!

My job was to take tickets at and oversee the Big Kahuna inflatable slide. The key task was to keep the kids from piling up at the bottom of the slide and smashing into each other. We strive for injury-free operations at the Big Kahuna. It was very fun but kind of cray-zay. Two hours of directing that traffic was all I could handle, and I was happy to see my relief worker show up at noon. Then Hank and I were free to doodle around the magic show, train ride, sideshow games, and petting zoo filled with long-suffering goats.

Today I had a tennis match out in Dacula, which is basically in East Egypt. It was fun and we played well, but we lost, and when my partner double-faulted at match point, it was a really good opportunity for me to practice my Zen detachment from this world and its endless cycles of desire and frustration.

Then I got to the picnic area and a girl said, "There's beer in this cooler," and she lifted the lid to reveal no beer at all, and it was a really good opportunity for me to say, "You people DRANK ALL THE BEER?!?" really loudly, and I know they will be thrilled to have me back anytime because of my good sportsmanship.

Then some people hugged me because they felt sorry for me, probably about the beer, and I drove home.

There I changed clothes and we went to a little birthday gathering at Pretty Neighbor's house, where I had cake AND beer. Also more hugs.

Then I changed back into my tennis clothes and played two sets of singles with Matt. We left the kids at home watching Tintin. It got dark and the wind gusted. I was up four games in the first set, and then the ball pinged off my frame and into my eye. It hurt a lot right in the moment, but I was mostly chagrined to have gotten hit in the face with a ball twice in one week. I pressed my palm to my eye for a while and then it was okay. My jaw, however STILL HURTS from getting hit on Thursday. I need to get better at tennis before I suffer serious injury.

I think that hit to the eye broke my spirit, because he took that set and went 6-0 in the next.

Also, lesson: I never want to get punched in the jaw. Because that was just a TENNIS BALL that hit me, Lord!

Now I am sore in a few different places. And I'm going to watch a little of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Matt and I once tried to listen to that book on tape and we couldn't do it. It was too complicated to be an audiobook. We kept going, "Wait, who? Who is that? What?" and rewinding. And finally we stopped.

Did you have a good weekend? Here comes the week, rushing straight at us. Let's be careful out there.

Oh, Lord. Let me know if you "get" Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy -- the most convoluted movie in history. I went with a brainy friend who considers me brainy as well, and apparently we both felt relieved during the movie that when it was over we could ask the other what it had all been about.

Let's talk about that carnival! In the past, our school carnival has had a fish pond, face painting, and an average cake walk. I can't believe Hank's featured a velcro wall, a blow up slide, and petting zoo, upscale!

First things first, I didn't know that velcro walls were really a thing. This is now a possible bucketlist item. (I'm easy to please, apparently)

Secondly, I would be really excited to read your digest of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy...we watched it this past weekend and about 30 minutes into it, I had to pull up a plot summary online to follow along. Not my finest cinematic confession, but the story is a little tricky to follow with the combination of code names and real names, and there seems to be an abiding expectation that we already know so much more about the characters than we possibly could. That being said, I always like a good challenge, and I was determined to be able to walk away from that movie with the ability to provide a semi-comprehensive analysis of it. At the end my husband said, I think I will read that book and I said, I should see that a couple of more times...which I am probably not going to do. I can't wait to hear your thoughts. Happy Monday!

Okay guys, I'm about to give Tinker Tailor another go. I started watching it late last night, and I was all "whuuut? Oh wait, is that that guy? who? was that just important right there?" I had no idea it was supposed to be difficult! I'm going to sit up straighter and watch the rest. So far it's about some guys in jackets who work for a circus?